So you've read The Hunt For Red October and you think that makes you a submarine captain?  Well, you've got lots to learn, grasshopper, but luckily you will have plenty of chances to make mistakes in Silent Hunter II, a submarine simulation game that's fun and educational to boot.

I played the original Silent Hunter in my Junior High computer lab years and years ago.  I was impressed with the feeling of majesty, the feeling of depth, the feeling of getting nothing done that goes along with driving a submarine.  Because your first job is to not be found, which means staying away from everyone.  And your second job is to get close enough to things to blow them up.  And then, after you've alerted everyone to your existence, your job is to sneak out again.  It sounds easy enough, but after a few heart stopping encounters with uboat interdiction traffic, you'll have a much grander respect for submarine captains, no matter what flag they fly.

No, this game is not for those of us who need constant direct stimulation of the special effects gland to be able to focus on a game.  In fact, this game is pretty much the opposite of heart stopping excitement.

That's not to say that the game is ugly;  it's actually pretty nice to look at.  Most of the screens are pre-rendered ray traced 3D scenes, so they look really, really good, even years later.  But it also works the other way... you will spent a lot of your time staring at a couple of dials or a 2D plot of the tactical situation.When there is 3D, the 3D is pretty basic... but when squinting through a periscope at a tiny dot on the horizon let's be honest... the game could use pixel shaders and mipmaps and it wouldn't matter.  If you're close enough to appreciate the details... you're dead!

Silent Hunter is the first game I've played that has a time slider, not to allow you to backtrack from a mistake, but to warp forward through time to avoid the tedium and boredom of really serving on a real U Boat.  Which is nice;  I've run at 1024x speed sometimes, because the game will make you drive all the way from Germany to Britain, and then back from Britain once you've stirred up the hornet's nest.  In fact, except for the exact minutes I'd use to fire torpedos, I'd find myself running at some kind of multiplier.  Submarines are SLOOOOOOOW, and you get a feel for that in this game.

Don't get me wrong, the exciting bits (stalking ships, interdicting trade, torpedoing battleships) are very fun.  And the game "simulates" a full crew, so while you CAN operate the radar by hand and you CAN input exact dive angle planes if you wish, you can also give basic commands ("Turn to 230, make your speed 10 knots, periscope depth, oh and plot a torpedo solution for that ship") and let the computerized crew handle all the fiddly bits in making it work.

And there's nothing like getting caught by a patrol and attempting to do your best impression of a hole in the water while they do ASW (Anti Submarine Warfare) activities right above your head... because what the game lacks in soundtrack is more than makes up for in "realistic" simulation of the sounds in a submarine.  So you HEAR the enemy ship screws over your head and the splash of bombs and the rumble of planes... if you are anything like me you'll find yourself talking in whispers when running silent.

The game is $9.99 on Good Old Games, is a quick download, and a fun way to burn a weekend.